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Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial

September 27, 2019

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial by Juliet Sear from Botanical Baking

This exquisite wildflower wedding cake tutorial by Juliet Sear is from her fabulous new book, Botanical Baking (© David & Charles Publishing. Published with permission).

Juliet has been one of the UK’s leading sugar artists for well over a decade and her book perfectly captures the growing trend in natural style baking and cake decorating.

It features so many unique and creative cake decorating projects using garden flowers and a variety of fruits, that are refreshingly quick and simple to re-create.

Take it back to nature and add a bohemian vibe to your cake decorating with this fascinating new book for cake enthusiasts and those looking for a new direction for their cake decorating.

According to Juliet: “This pretty wildflower wedding cake tutorial is so easy, as nature has done all the work! Adding gorgeous pressed flowers works really well on a flat iced cake, as they easily glue onto the surface. I’ve created a few edible butterflies to add some pretty drama – it looks like a real floral scene and would be perfect for a wedding.”

Serves 80–100 small portions

Prep time, approx 5 hours

Drying time, overnight

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial – Edible Materials 

  • Four-tier vanilla sponge cake, filled, covered with ivory sugarpaste/fondant and stacked, with round tiers of 10cm (4in), 15cm (6in), 20cm (8in) and 25cm (10in) diameter
  • 3.5kg (7lb 10oz) ivory sugarpaste/fondant to cover all four tiers
  • 10g (1⁄4oz) royal icing, for sticking the butterfly wings and bodies
  • 2 tbsp black royal icing
  • Pressed flowers and leaves. I used violas, pansies, sweet cicely, flowering mint leaves, lavender, roses and bellis daisies
  • (Cake Geek Note: Most flower shops and supermarkets sell flowers that have been treated with insecticides and fungicides and therefore aren’t edible. Make sure to source your flowers from an organic supplier unless they’re from your own garden and you can stand over them that they are edible. There is lots of information in Juliet’s book on the different types of flowers that are edible.)

pressed flowers for cake decorating from Botanical Baking by Juliet Sear

Equipment

  • 10mm ivory ribbon
  • Printed edible sheets of butterflies
  • Green edible food dusts with melted cocoa butter or coconut oil, and/or green edible-ink pens
  • Paintbrushes, selection of sizes
  • Edible-ink pens, in a selection of colours (Rainbow Dust ones are really good)
  • Edible glue and paintbrush
  • Small sharp scissors
  • Cocktail sticks (toothpicks)
  • Turntable (optional)
  • Piping bag
  • Chopsticks or similar, for supporting the butterfly wings whilst they dry

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial

First, make the butterflies by carefully cutting out the butterfly wings and removing the backing from the edible paper.

Wildflower wedding cake tutorial, cutting out the edible printed butterflies

Use some royal icing, with soft peak consistency, and a small paintbrush to coat the back of each wing, place over a chopstick or similar to set dry. These take a few hours to dry, so you might want to do them the day before.

Coating the back of the edible printed butterflies with royal icing to firm them up from Botanical Baking by Juliet Sear

Use edible glue on the small pressed flowers to adhere them to the cake surface. Some larger, heavier blooms like the pressed roses, may require a dab of royal icing to help them stick. I like to start around the front and build up the pattern. I’ve done this in broken rings around the cake, so there are moving bands of different height flowers that look like they have grown out from the base of each cake tier.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, attaching the flowers 2

Add the larger blooms, smoothing them with a soft paintbrush if necessary, then fill in any gaps with smaller ones.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, attaching the flowers 1

To add the stems and greenery for the flowers, you can either use a small paintbrush and an edible paint made up using green edible food dusts and melted cocoa butter or coconut oil, or you can use edible-ink pens if you prefer. The painted version looks a little more realistic. I start by drawing with an edible-ink pen, then I go over with a brush and dust colours to enhance and add details. You can combine both methods by using pens for the very thin stems then more elaborately painted stems for the larger blooms.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, drawing in the stems with an edible ink pen

To add the butterflies, pipe tiny bodies of black royal icing, with a stiff peak consistency, using a small round nozzle, no.2 size or snip a hole in your piping bag. Make the butterfly bodies by piping little beads in a row.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, adding the butterfly body

Add a blob of stiff white royal icing next to the piped butterfly body on each side to support and stick each butterfly wing.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, using royal icing to adhere the butterfly wings

Place the wings on the cake, pushing them into the body.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, adding the butterfly wings

You might find you need a cocktail stick to support the wings while they dry, depending on the angle you wish them to sit at. The supports can be removed once the wings have set hard.

Wildflower Wedding Cake Tutorial, supporting the wings with cocktail sticks

Leave the decoration to dry and then cover the joins by attaching lengths of thin ivory ribbon (or any colour you choose) to finish off the cake.

Wildflower wedding cake tutorial with meadow flowers and butterflies by Juliet Sear from Botancial Baking

Readers might also be interested in the following feature tutorials

  • Floral Wreath Cake Tutorial for a Boho Style Wedding Cake
  • Croquembouche Wedding Cake Recipe by Hannah Miles
  • Number Cake Tutorial/Cream Tart Recipe by Mich Turner
  • Cake Calligraphy/Lettering Tutorial by Faye Cahill
  • Gumpaste English Rose Tutorial by Naomi Yamamoto
  • Peach & Gold Wedding Cake Decorating Tutorial by Emily Lael Aumiller of Lael Cakes
  • Blue Tiled Wedding Cake Decorating Tutorial by Lindy Smith
  • Hand-stamped Floral Wedding Cake Decorating Tutorial by Erin Gardner
  • Baroque Inspired Wedding Cake Decorating Tutorial with Rosalind Miller
  • Piped Cake Decorating Tutorial by Carey Madden
  • Vintage Hatbox Cake Decorating Tutorial in Buttercream by Christina Ong & Valeri Valeriano
  • Buttercream Crochet Lace Wedding Cake Decorating Tutorial by Christina Ong & Valeri Valeriano
  • Baby Bag/Diaper Bag Cake Tutorial by Cherylshuen
  • Decorated Jelly Roll/Swiss Roll Tutorial by Junko


Filed Under: Wedding Cake Design Inspiration & Tutorials Tagged: wedding cake decorating tutorials, wedding cake trends

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